WHO threatens the worldwide health emergency by unknown disease X?

Global health risk: WHO warns of disease threat X

The World Health Organization (WHO) has for some years been publishing a list of dangerous diseases and pathogens that pose a risk to public health and for which there are no or only insufficient countermeasures. This year, the experts also list the "disease X". This could create a global emergency.

Risk to public health

Since 2015, the World Health Organization (WHO) has published a list of diseases and pathogens that "pose a risk to public health and for which there are no or inadequate countermeasures," the organization reports on its website. This year is the first time a "disease X" listed. This could, according to the experts for an international health emergency.

WHO has published a list of dangerous diseases and pathogens that pose a risk to public health and for which there are no or only insufficient countermeasures. Also a "disease X" can be found on it. (Image: Syda Productions / fotolia.com)

Possible epidemic due to illness X

As WHO notes, experts believe that "accelerated research is urgently needed for the following diseases, given their potential to cause a public health emergency and the lack of effective drugs and / or vaccines":

- Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever
- Ebola and Marburg fever
- Lassa fever
- Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS)
- SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome)
- Nipah and Henipa virus
- Rift Valley fever
- Zika

And: disease X. This disease does not exist real. What this means is that an unknown pathogen at any time could cause the outbreak of a previously ignored disease.

Deadly new viruses could be created

"History tells us that the next big outbreak is likely to be something we have not seen before," said John-Arne Rottingen, director of the Norwegian Research Council and scientific advisor to the WHO Committee in an article in the British Telegraph ".

"It may seem strange to add an 'X', but it's about having to flexibly prepare for and plan vaccinations and diagnostic tests," says the scientist.

They want to develop platforms and systems that allow rapid countermeasures to be taken in the event of a wide range of diseases.

According to Rottingen, a human-caused disease X is less likely than a naturally occurring one, but he warned: "Synthetic biology allows the creation of deadly new viruses."

Diseases that skip from animals to humans

However, it is more likely that an unknown disease will pass from animals to humans and then possibly trigger an epidemic, such as the swine flu in 2009.

"As the ecosystem and human habitats change, there is always the danger that diseases will pass from animals to humans," says Rottingen.

"This is a natural process and it is important that we are aware of it and prepare ourselves. That's probably the biggest risk. "

Also known diseases pose a major threat

Professor Marion Koopmans, WHO scientific advisor to the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, said that the frequency with which zoonoses appear is much faster.

She added, "The intensity of animal-human contact is growing with the evolution of the world. This makes it more likely that new diseases will occur, but modern travel and commerce also make them more likely to spread. "

But not only the diseases listed in the current list can threaten global health.

According to the WHO, diseases such as dengue, yellow fever, HIV / AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, influenza, smallpox, cholera, West Nile virus or plague are still major public health issues and further research and development is needed through existing initiatives to combat disease ". (Ad)